Moonlight
by tyb93
Summary: Will be a series of one-shots based on different prompts, centering around Jerome/Mara. Rated T for language.
1. 2 am

_2 a.m._

_2 __**fucking**__ a.m._

The house was dark and still. Exasperated, Jerome finally sat up in his bed, running his fingers through his hair for what felt like the thousandth time that night.

He glanced out of the window: the Anubis garden grounds lay illuminated in the light of the moon. It was mid-September, but summer still lingered in the air. In the garden, like soldiers in August's last charge, the roses were in full bloom. Thriving ivory clung to the benches and statues.

Looking around the room, Jerome could make out Alfie's slumbering form on the bed in the opposite corner. His best friend was sleeping soundly, snoring lightly, having become used to Jerome's fitful nights by now.

_Insomnia._

Add that to the list of things that had come with starting the new year. He had had occasional restless nights this past summer, but being back in Anubis House seemed to have amplified whatever in his system was rendering him incapable of sleeping. He found himself spending more and more of each night lying awake.

Frustrated, he got up, and, being careful to make as little noise as possible, crept out of his room.

Jerome didn't know what the hell happened this summer, but coming back to Anubis House for his final year, everything had been different. On the first day, Jerome couldn't help but do double takes as he greeted his housemates. Fabian, Patricia, Amber. People he had known since he was ten years old walked through the doors of Anubis and, somehow, felt like strangers. They had all changed.

He couldn't pinpoint how or why, but he felt it. They all did. Even though the first couple of weeks of term went on as usual, it was as if the very house had changed-the energy inside it was different, restless, more sinister.

Jerome shook those thoughts from his head, which throbbed with a searing pain.

_Why not eat insomnia away?_

He thought to himself as he walked down the hallway, feeling his way along the wall with his right hand. His head felt groggy and sluggish. His body was sore, and he was tired as hell but couldn't manage to fall asleep. He stumbled toward the kitchen, grumbling to himself.

Maybe something greasy and buttery and cheesy would make him feel better...

_Cheese..._

He loved cheese…He loved cheese so much he should write a song for it…or a poem…a statue memorial?...

As he finally rounded the corner into the kitchen, he stopped dead in his tracks, nonsense thoughts coming to a halt.

In the darkness of the living room, a solitary lamp was still on. Underneath it, curled up in an armchair, a discarded book in her lap, Mara Jaffray was asleep. The floor around the chair was strewn with various textbooks and papers, and her backpack lay open on the coffee table.

_She must have stayed up late doing homework._

A part of his brain told him to turn around and creep back to his room as quietly as possible. Jerome knew he had to stay as far away from Mara as possible. If her mean, borderline-cruel treatment of him last year wasn't enough of a reason, Joy had come back from the summer with new problems of her own, testier and easily aggravated. Being anywhere near Mara was completely and definitely not allowed.

The other part of his brain-the one usually reserved for coming up with pranks, the one that never did as it was told, and the one that _always_ seemed to get him into trouble-dared him to do what he knew he wasn't allowed to.

Creeping forward, his earlier food mission forgotten, he stopped just short of Mara's sleeping form.

He had come across her like this plenty of times in the many years he'd known her. She had a habit of falling asleep down here, in the middle of slaving away at some assignment.

She was breathing deeply, completely knocked out, one hand under her head, the other resting against the open book in her lap.

She looked peaceful, a break from the strange, troubled expression she had come back from the summer sporting.

An expression somehow even more heartbreaking than the almost cruel look she would give him last year, when, in the wake of his cheating, he had seen a different side of her. Her revenge antics had gotten progressively crueler, until every form of interaction with her had become painful.

He had been shocked, to say the least. He didn't know she had that in her. As it turned out, he really didn't know her at all.

Although lately, he had to admit to himself, he felt like he didn't know anything anymore.

Later he would blame it on his insomnia, tell himself he wasn't feeling well, and try to pretend it was all a dream. Even blame the new weird vibe the house was giving off.

But right then, Jerome impulsively reached out, and ran his thumb gently down the sleeping girl's cheek, feeling a warm tingling spread through him from the point of contact. Mara's eyelids fluttered, but she didn't wake. Just as the warmth spread to his stomach, he stood up quickly, strange, difficult-to-name feelings surging through him. Slowly backing away, Jerome kept his eyes peeled on her, planning a quick exit in case she stirred, but Mara remained asleep.

He suddenly felt better and realized with a start that his headache was completely gone. He stifled a yawn as tiredness finally overcame him.

In the hallway, he finally turned away, but not before taking one last glance at the girl in the other room and the paper mess strewn around her.

Jerome smirked.

_It was nice to see that, despite everything, some things never changed._


	2. Sky

Mara gazed up at the early September sky. It was a clear and warm night. You could see the stars. Hundreds of them. Their light seemed to illuminate everything.

Form her spot on the bench, she surveyed the garden.

Roses were still blooming, and a gentle breeze stirred the strands of Mara's hair. She clung tighter to her shawl as a sudden gust ruffled the folds of her nightgown. The scent of ripe roses caught in the wind and floated over to her.

Everything was aglow. The moonlight seemed to cascade down in long rays: the faces of the flowers, the roof of Anubis house, and the cotton material of Mara's nightgown, bathed in the strange light, looked ghostly. If she didn't know any better, she could almost believe she was in a dream.

By contrast, the side of the house itself, thrown into shadow by the roof, looked dark and ominous. The brick building, with its black windows and ivy-encrusted walls, looked gnarled and hunched over on itself, like some mangled monster. She shivered as she glanced at it.

_What kind of secrets was it hiding? _

A lot had changed over the summer. Nowadays, Mara tried hard not to think about last year at all.

She could vividly remember the day last spring when she woke up, looked in the mirror, and didn't recognize the girl looking back at her, couldn't see past the hate that seemed to mark her eyes like a scar.

She had hoped that the new year would bring a new beginning, but that wasn't the case. Everyone was acting strange. It was subtle, hard to put into words, but things were different. She could feel it, and she hated it.

God, she was so sick of it. She was _so_ sick of feeling miserable. Last year, her life had turned into a spectacular disaster that she barely managed to salvage.

…

"_You shouldn't have to say anything. What kind of a friend would I be if I stood in your way? Be happy."_

…

She had said it to Joy. She had meant it. She wanted more than anything for her friend to be happy. Now it was her turn to do the same.

Somewhere along the way last spring, Mara had lost herself—the person she thought she was. She had spent the painful summer trying to find that girl. Forgive her, accept her, and let her be happy.

_Be happy, Mara. _

Casting another glance at the garden and catching another whiff of the roses, Mara jumped to her feet.

The breeze picked up, and its warmth felt wonderful against her face. She glanced up at the sky once more and giggled, suddenly filled with a strange giddiness. She gave a twirl as the breeze lifted the tips of her nightgown off the ground. She kept spinning, stretching her arms out, caught up in the way the light reflected off her skin, making it look like it was almost glowing.

Her giggle turned into an outright laugh as she burst into a dorky dance around the garden, silly and strangely uninhibited. Twirling until she felt herself get dizzy.

She sank back down onto the bench, throwing her head back, taking in the luminous, wondrous sky.

Her glance flicked back to the kitchen door that she had left open, and her laughter died in her throat.

Leaning against the doorframe, staring at her intently, face in shadows, was the last person she expected to see right now.

Jerome Clarke.

A million thoughts ran through her head as Jerome, aware that she had spotted him, began walking toward her.

_Things won't be weird. Don't let things be weird anymore. _ She chanted to herself as she stood up. She was in a good place. She was determined to mend her relationship with Jerome this year. As difficult as it may be. She was a different Mara now, better in so many ways. She had hurt Jerome, and she wanted to make it up to him.

They would be friends...They could be friends.

"Hello," she said, as he stopped just short of her.

"Good morning." Jerome replied, smirking. "_Three_ in the morning, to be precise. I knew you were your own brand of weird, Jaffray, but what in the world are you doing out here this time of night?"

His tone was light, but she felt the current of tension running underneath. She knew almost instinctively how he really felt, that the light banter was an act. It suddenly occurred to her that he was trying, _really_ trying, and she couldn't help the smile that formed at that.

Jerome stopped just short of her, hands in the pockets of the sweatpants he slept in.

"What? Is there some sort of comet only you and Stephen Hawking know about passing through? Some obscure, nerdy astronomical phenomena you had to come out and see at this godforsaken hour? Or don't tell me, you've taken to studying here now? Does moonlight improve brain waves?" he chided.

It felt almost second nature for her to roll her eyes.

"Wouldn't hurt you or your grades to try and find out, Jerome," she quipped quietly. He stared down at her, surprise and bemusement flashing in his eyes.

"I just couldn't sleep for some reason," she explained, as they both studied the ground and their bare feet. "Been happening a lot recently. Don't know why."

"Same." Jerome replied quietly, gazing up intently at Mara. A gusty breeze blew by, setting her shawl askew, and Jerome's eyes flickered to her shoulder, then up to the way strands of her hair briefly danced around her face, before settling on her eyes. He peered into them, searching, brow suddenly knitted.

"Listen Jerome….I just wanted to tell you… thing is, is I just wanted to say," she trailed off again, so intent all of a sudden on looking anywhere besides Jerome's face that she was surprised her eyes weren't boring a hole into his right shoulder.

_Why was this so hard? _

"Look, I just wanted to tell you: even in light of what happened with us, with _me_…last year, I really think we could...I really, really would like nothing more than for us to try and be fr-"

"_Don't_."

Jerome's reply came out a hard, pained whisper. She glanced up at him, mouth falling open with surprise. Jerome's face was unreadable for a moment, and then his expression became a mix of terror and shock, as if he couldn't quite believe his own words.

"I-I…j-just don't….I-I don't want th-..."he stammered and shut his eyes, running a shaking hand through his hair. She took a step closer, concerned, and he backed away just as quickly. He stared at her a moment longer, mouth attempting to form words, before taking a few more steps back and finally turning away from her completely.

She watched as his retreating form disappeared into the house and sucked in a ragged breath she didn't know she'd been holding, a strange ache appearing somewhere inside her.

"I…"

Gazing up at the brilliant moon once again, she attempted to collect her racing thoughts.

_B-Be happy, Mara. _


End file.
